United for Green Schools: Labor, Communities & Cities Leading Change in the Face of Disinvestment

• Date: Monday, 9/22

• Time: 10:30am-12:00pm ET

• Location: The Center for Fiction auditorium (15 Lafayette Avenue, Brooklyn, NY 11217)

• RSVP link: Register here, please. 

• Notes: Doors open at 10:00am. Light refreshments will be served.

Labor, community, and government coalitions are fighting for–and winning–transformative investments in green healthy schools, despite the challenging times that public schools face today.

Public schools face chronic disinvestment, enrollment crises, and a backlog of deferred maintenance. Investing in green, healthy schools saves districts money, improves learning and work conditions within schools, and creates and trains students for jobs in the building and clean energy sector. When schools run on clean energy, they both are more able to adapt to extreme weather events and combat the climate crisis by reducing emissions.

Join this panel to hear from leaders in government, labor, and social movements in Chicago, Columbus, and Los Angeles as they share the nuts and bolts of how they are winning and implementing green schools programs in their districts.

Panel participants:

• Moderator: Chelsea Watson - Senior Program Director, Building Power Resource Center

• Opening Remarks: Batul Hassan - Labor Director, Climate and Community Institute

• Panelist: Anusha Thotakura - Chicago School Board Member (District 6A)

• Panelist: Julie Van Winkle - Vice President, United Teachers Los Angeles AFT

• Panelist: Jackson Potter - Vice President, Chicago Teachers Union

• Panelist: Tara Polansky - Lead Climate Organizer, Ohio Organizing Collaborative